Closing Date In January Announced for 'Carousel'

This is a digitized version of an article from The Times’s print archive, before the start of online publication in 1996.
To preserve these articles as they originally appeared, The Times does not alter, edit or update them.

Occasionally the digitization process introduces transcription errors or other problems.
Please send reports of such problems to archive_feedback@nytimes.com.

October 25, 1994, Page 00018 The New York Times Archives

The award-winning revival of Rodgers and Hammerstein's "Carousel" that has been playing at the Vivian Beaumont Theater since February is to close on Jan. 15, Lincoln Center announced yesterday.

Although the show won five Tony Awards, including best revival of a musical, and about 90 percent of its seats have been filled each week, Lincoln Center administrators decided it would cost too much to keep it open through the usual January-to-March attendance slump.

As a result, "Arcadia," a Tom Stoppard play that Lincoln Center was to produce at a Broadway theater, will probably begin previews at the Beaumont in late February, said Andre Bishop, the artistic director of Lincoln Center Theater.

There are 150 people on the "Carousel" payroll, said Bernard Gersten, Lincoln Center Theater's executive producer, and the show must sell about $415,000 worth of tickets a week to break even, about what it is selling now.

"And besides, it seemed as perfect as it could be where it was," he said. The huge setting sun that opens the show, the carousel and carnival around it and other scenic elements do make dramatic use of the thrust stage and steeply raked seats.

"Everyone complains about sitting way away from musicals in the big houses," Mr. Gersten said. "You could be at the back of the Beaumont and still be only 15 rows back."

Nicholas Hytner's dark vision of "Carousel" and Bob Crowley's sets captivated audiences as much as performances did. "It was one of the great events of our theatrical lives," Mr. Bishop said. "Eleven months is a long time."

A version of this article appears in print on October 25, 1994, on Page C00018 of the National edition with the headline: Closing Date In January Announced for 'Carousel'. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe